


Captured Shame

by schrijverr



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hiccup feels, Hurt Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Hurt/Comfort, Self Confidence Issues, my poor boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 14:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18896044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schrijverr/pseuds/schrijverr
Summary: Hiccup is captured with Toothless and his foot is taken away.He needs help to escape, but his self confidence has taken a hit. He hates being useless, a comment is the last drop. Luckily everyone is there for him.





	Captured Shame

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is @schrijverr, you can find my works there as well!

Hiccup stumbled a bit as he and Toothless were pushed into the cage. He didn’t mind that much, he was confidant they could escape. That confidence, however, was immediately destroyed by a simple action. One of the hunters pushed him down, Toothless growled, but Hiccup shushed him saying that it was OK, then the guard knelt and undid Hiccups prosthetic taking it with him. 

Hiccups world crumbled around him. Every plan he had ever made to get out of these situations were useless, Toothless was grounded and his friends didn’t even know he was captured. With wide eyes of fear he looked at his dragon. Toothless butted him with his head a little and Hiccup automatically scratched, calming him and the Nightfury down. 

He buried his head in Toothless’ side and mumbled to himself: “OK, Hiccup, think. Can’t run, can’t fly. Now what?”  
Toothless cocked his head. “You don’t know either?”  
He shook his head and Hiccup sighed. “Lets just hope the others notice we’re gone when I don’t show up for training.”  
He leaned against the walls of the cage and put his head in his hands. He hated being useless… Again.

~

Later that day Hiccup was pulled out of his thoughts by an explosion. His head shot up and he looked into the direction it had come from. Focusing on the sky, he saw the shapes of familiar dragons shoot through the smoke. He looked at Toothless and their eyes met. Without a word Toothless shot to his side and helped him up. He grasped the bars, half to keep him up, half to watch the fight closely. 

Astrid and Fishleg made their way to him, while the twins and Snoutlout were distracting the hunters by destroying everything in their path. When he saw them looking he screamed and waved with his hand to get their attention while Toothless roared.

They swooped down and broke him free, then they had to scatter to dodge a fire blast. Toothless shielded Hiccup from it, then they both hopped/walked out of the cage. They looked at each other, at the sky and back to each other again. Above them Fishlegs and Astrid circled waiting for the pair to join them. 

When that didn’t happen Astrid looked down and yelled: “What are you waiting for? We have to leave!”  
Hiccups cheeks burned with shame. He looked down and said: “I can’t”  
“What do you mean you can’t, Hiccup?” Fishlegs said.  
Still not looking up Hiccup replied: “They took my leg. We’re grounded.”

He felt bad for Toothless. The dragon depended on him and because of this small thing he had let him down. He was so busy with his shame that he didn’t notice two dragons coming closer. Suddenly he was grabbed and lifted of the ground. His head snapped up and he saw Stormfly above him, her claws grabbing her securely. On his right Toothless was being carried by Meatlug.   
They flew away and were quickly joined by the twins and Snotlout. 

When they saw their leader being carried instead of flying Tuffnut asked: “Hey, why is Hiccup being carried? Is, is no one else wondering that?”  
“We are, bro, we are.” Ruffnut said.  
All turned to Hiccuped expectantly, but Hiccup only huffed, crossed his arms and looked away. Astrid rolled his eyes and said: “They took his leg and he can’t fly Toothless without it.”  
“Well, that makes him pretty useless.” Snotlout said.

Astrid told him of, but the damage had been done. Tears burned in Hiccups eyes. He had worked so hard and been through so much to prove he wasn’t useless and the one thing he had to give up to do that made him useless again. Snotlout was right, he was useless. Such a simple thing would make him unable to be of any use during battle. Even this was embarrassing, he, the mighty dragon-rider who was the first to train a dragon, was being carried like a load. 

~

When they touched down Toothless bounded over to him like he had signaled during the flight. He got on and instructed the Nightfury to go to their hut. The dragon nodded and jumped from point to point to get there. Hiccup didn’t look back to the other riders and just hoped that they wouldn’t follow him. 

When he and Toothless were inside he closed the door and locked it. Toothless started a fire and Hiccup fell down on the bed. He had no energy to send a Terror-mail for a new leg to Gobber. He would do that tomorrow he decided. Right now, he wanted to be left alone and be ashamed and angry. Not angry a the others, angry at himself. Angry for allowing himself to have this weakness and not having a plan for scenarios like these.

He curled up in his blanket and willed the world to go away. Toothless cooed softly and curled around him, Hiccup relaxed a bit. He whispered to the dragon: “You’re the only one that would understand, but at least you can blame me for it. This, this is all my fault.”  
He sighed and said: “You know, sometimes I wonder why you stick around. Wonder why you haven’t left the person responsible for hurting you, I wonder if I keep you prisoner.”  
Toothless made a hurt sound, he didn’t like what his rider, his friend, was saying about himself. He thought about all the things that made Hiccup smile and decided to lick his face. When Hiccup felt the wetness on his cheek his eyes went wide and he looked at Toothless. “Did you just, did you just lick me?” he said.  
Toothless smiled and Hiccup rolled his eyes, smiling softly. He scratched under Toothless’ chin and said: “You’re too good for me, bud. I’m glad you’re here, the first to ever believe in me.”

He fell silent again and they just laid there for a few minutes. Then someone banged on their door. Hiccup turned away, not wanting to deal with reality just yet, but life wouldn’t be so kind and the banging continued. Groaning he sat up and yelled: “Go away!”  
The banging stopped and Hiccup sighed in relief. Relief that went as soon as it came as Astrids voice said: “Hiccup, you have to come out. We need to know who captured you, how and what they wanted. We need to be able to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”  
“It can wait till tomorrow. Now go.” he yelled back.  
He could hear some shifting at the other side of the door, the Astrids voice came from lower. She said: “I’m going to sit here until you come out. You can pick, let me sit here all night or come out for just a second.”

Hiccups shoulders slumped in defeat and he looked at Toothless. The dragon in question looked at him with sympathy and his eyes asked if he should chase her away. Hiccup shook his head. He reached for two longer sticks that he kept under his bed just in case. They came to his armpits and had two horizontal sticks on top and a bit down. He used these crutches and got to the door, Gods did he hate this. Before he opened the door he took a deep breath.

The doors slid open catching Astrid by surprise. She tumbled backwards to her back and looked up only to come face to face with Hiccup. He smiled and awkwardly said: “Hey, Astrid.”  
Then he just, kind of, waved. That action pulled her attention to his arms and she now also noticed the crutches. She looked from the crutches to his face and shot him a questioning look. His face darkened and she already got a feeling about what the issue was. She sat up and said softly: “Hey yourself. Are you OK? Your capture scared us all a bit, do you want to talk about it?”  
She got up and walked to a bench, Hiccup followed, and they both sat down. He pinched his brow and told her: “If I’m being honest? No. No, I don’t want to talk about it, because it sucks.”  
She smiled sympathetically and said: “It’s not the end of the world, getting captured happens to all of us.”

Hiccup threw his hands in the air. “But, that’s it. It doesn’t happen to all of you. They can’t ground you, immobilize you. If you’re dragon is not present you can still escape, you can still run. Me? Me on the other hand, I can’t. It’s just this small thing and just ruins everything I worked so hard for. It’s not just a simple mistake, it’s just a handicap, something that slows everyone around me down.” he ranted, then in a small voice he finished: “Something that makes me useless.”

Astrid let his word sink in. She had never seen Hiccups leg as a disadvantage, hell, she saw it a sign of strength. He had fought until he couldn’t, until he won, and lived, but she also realized that for him being useless again was the worst thing that could happen to him. His entire life he was looked down upon, he even was Hiccup the Useless for a long time. That was just how it was, but the status quo had also left scars. For Hiccup physically and mentally. 

She laid her hand on his shoulder and said: “Hiccup, look at me. We will never see you as useless. You proved time and time again that, that is the opposite of who and what you are. Sure, we make jokes, but we never mean to hurt you and we never mean it. Snotlout and the twins can be dense sometimes and they will never admit it, but they look up to you. You always have a plan and if you don’t, you know how to improvise and next time a scenario like the one you failed on before comes up, you are ready. That’s what makes you strong, not you ability to run.”  
A look of uncertainty crossed his face, he swallowed and said: “Thanks, Astrid, I needed that.”  
Her smile broadened and she whispered: “Anytime.”

They continued to sit like that for a while, watching the sun go down in the water. It was nice to enjoy each others company again. Because not matter how fun it was to live on the Edge, there was never quite a moment of peace and quiet. When the sun had almost entirely disappeared Astrid broke the silence. “Did you send a Terror-mail to Gobber yet?”  
Hiccup shook his head and looked to the ground. He was not looking forward to that. Astrid noticed the movement and placed her hand on his shoulder again. He looked up. She smiled and said: “I’ll do it. You need some rest.”  
A smile came back on his face. He rested his hand on hers and said: “What would I do without you?”  
Astrid rolled her eyes and gave him a peck on the head. 

Then she walked of to do as she promised. Hiccup watched her leave and he sighed to himself. Today had been a bad day, and sure more bad days would come, but, he decided, without the bad days there wouldn’t be any good ones. He slumped in his seat and toothless walked up to him. The dragon curled around him and demanded to be scratched. Hiccup complied, but not before whispering: “Needy much.” which Toothless ignored. Yeah, the day had been bad, but his friends definitely hadn’t been.


End file.
